Sprinkler hose or lawn sprinkler ~ $6 per 50′ hose or ~$5 for a simple sprinkler

Stakes (I had some so don’t have a price)

Patience, an hour or so, a nice warm day, and a steady supply of water

Here are the materials we used:

Slide Materials

The first thing you do is figure out how long you want to make your slide. We laid out 6 noodles with about a foot between each to get a 35′ slide (each noodle is 5′).

Sizing the Slide

Once we figured out how long to make it, I left a little bit extra on either end, at the front for an area to double up the material for staking it down and at the end for wrapping it around a big noodle to stop you. Next we unfolded the roll and pulled it straight and flat. You can see in the next picture the area at the front where we double (actually quadruple) folded the plastic so that it would resist tearing when we put in the stakes:

Unrolled Slide

With the slide plastic unrolled, you can start laying out the noodles and applying the Velcro strips. We used two pieces of Velcro towards the end of each noodle and positioned them so you can fold the plastic around the noodle and stick the plastic to itself.

Positioning Velcro Strips and Noodles

Do that for all the noodles down the length of the slide and then fold the material over so it sticks and traps the noodles in place. Be sure to keep the same line going down so that the slide stays straight. We matched up the edge of the folded-over piece to one of the creases in the plastic material. We also used some heavy bags to hold the slide in place while we worked so the wind didn’t mess with it as much.

One Side Complete with Velcro and Noodles

Continue to the other side, trying to match the position of the noodles with the first side as you go down:

Second Side Ready to Stick Together

Once both sides are complete, flip the whole slide over and stake down the top (we also pulled the whole thing really taught and staked the other end as well). You can run sprinkler hose down each side by the noodles to keep the slide wet:

Completed Slide with Sprinkler Hose

Finally, when we staked the other end, we also wrapped up a large noodle in the excess plastic to serve as a stop for you as you get to the end (actually worked more like a speed bump if you were going fast enough at the end and didn’t stop by then).

Slide End with Large Noodle Bump

So you are probably wondering, “how did it work?” Well, it actually worked great once we ironed out some kinks in our implementation of the “Best Slip ‘n Slide Ever.” First, you need to keep the plastic really tightly pulled so it doesn’t bunch up anywhere. To do that we pulled it really tight and re-staked it at the front and back. You also need to really bunch up the plastic where you stake it otherwise it will tend to tear as you use the slide. Second, the sprinkler hose that we had kept on bursting out the side near the water connection. I don’t know if we just put too much pressure in it or what, but that hose was a big failure. If it had worked it would have been great since the hose provided water down the whole length on both sides. We ended up just using a regular lawn sprinkler set to always shower down over the slide towards the middle and front (since the yard is sloped towards the back, the water ends up flowing towards the end anyway). Finally, make sure you get a nice run going before you jump on and make sure the slide is nice and wet. My daughter and I were both able to get all the way down to the end (and sometimes past) once we got our water source tweaked.

Overall, it was a nice DIY project that turned out to be a very impressive slide. For about the same price as you pay for those commercial Slip ‘n Slides, we made our own that will last a lot longer, is a lot longer and wider, and is sure to be a hit with the other kids in our family (and probably the parents too!).

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78 comments on “Best Slip ‘n Slide Ever from @WiredGeekDad”

Totally awesome that you put this together and got some real enjoyment out of it! Please make sure you put a link to this blog post into the forums at the book website so others can learn from your efforts. W00t!

This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I enjoy seeing websites that understand the value of providing a prime resource for free. I truly loved reading your post. Thanks!

I just used some plastic stakes that I had laying around from tie-downs for tree saplings. They would be similar to what you would have in your camping tent kit for rope tie-downs. In one picture you can see four across the front but we ended up removing the two in the middle (at my wife’s behest) so that we wouldn’t trip/step on them as we were running. I ended up just using one at each corner through bunched up plastic, particularly at the front (uphill) corners since the plastic there was starting to tear.

Instead of shelling out money for plastic, go to your local billboard company and ask for vinyls they’re throwing away. They would love for you to take them off their hands. These vinyla are usually 14′ x 48′ and have 4″ pockets on the edges.

hey man nice slide.. when we did it, we used a $20 8ft wide/12ft long/2ft tall inflatable kid pool that you can buy from walmart at the end for our landing pool. How you do that is that you buy extra length than what you need and you roll that extra up and bunch it at the front of the pool and use that bunch as a soft ramp into the pool…. it works especially well if the slide is downhill.. hope this helps!

I got all my material (minus the noodles) at Menards. Just about any big-box hardware store (Menards, Home Depot, Lowes) should have similar materials. You can probably get the noodles for even cheaper if you find them at a dollar store when they have them at the beginning of the season. Otherwise your Wal-Mart or Meijer should also carry them.

I bought it from Menards I believe – back in the paint department with the other plastic drop cloth/sheets. I imagine all the home improvement stores would have something like that. I think I went with one of the thickest materials they had.

You might want to pick up some grommets from a sewing supply store to create re-enforced holes to put your stakes through. It will prevent the plastic from tearing and you’ll get more use from Slip & Slide 🙂

The old school slip and slides used to have a U shaped stake with a long narrow metal piece like a squished hoop that you would insert the corner of the plastic into then wind it up then use the u stake to stake into the ground. It was very strong and prevented the ripping problem.. I wonder if something like that could be found somewehere on ther internets…

Help!!! We need help with our camping slide. The problem we have is where we go theres no grass but little rocks under. We do have little hills where we usually put but we cant slide down and with cant remove all the little rocks. Any suggestions?

WE need help with our camping slide. Where we go theres no grass but little rocks. We do have little hills but still no grass. we put pad under so we wont get hurt but we do not slide.
Any suggestions??

When I was little, my dad made a simple slip-n-slide by *sewing* heavy duty black garbage bags together, wetting it down & putting a sprinkler near by to keep it wet. Worked fabulously!! Good memories.

“Marlene says:
26 July, 2011 at 1:18 PM
WE need help with our camping slide. Where we go theres no grass but little rocks. We do have little hills but still no grass. we put pad under so we wont get hurt but we do not slide.
Any suggestions??”

Use that cheap outdoor carpet. It’s usually green and vary fine. Its sturdy enough to protect you from the rocks but thin enough that it won’t hinder the slide

Methods for storage, and ease of reusability? Any estimates of the life of the plastic before it tears? I’m considering dropping $60 on a 10ft x 100ft roll of 6-mil plastic sheeting, but I would be more comfortable knowing I could get more than one good use out of it.